Pyongyang is a restaurant chain named after the capital of North Korea, with around 130 locations worldwide.[1][2] The restaurants are owned and operated by the Haedanghwa Group, an organization of the government of North Korea.[3]
Locations
Most Pyongyang restaurants are found near the North Korean border in China, as well as in Beijing and Shanghai. Since the 2000s, the chain has been expanding into South and Southeast Asian cities including Phnom Penh,[4] Siem Reap,[5] Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang, Vientiane, Dhaka,[6] Jakarta,[7] and Kuala Lumpur.[8] There are also restaurants in Ulaanbaatar, Vladivostok, Moscow, Dubai
Service
The restaurants serve Korean food, including kimchi dishes, Pyongyang cold noodles, barbecued cuttlefish and dog meat soup.[8] Patrons may also buy North Korean products such as ginseng wine and an unlabelled aphrodisiac claimed to be made from bears.[8] The prices are relatively high and in US dollars.[8]
The staff consists of young Korean women in traditional Chosŏn-ot dress, who also perform karaoke as well as song and dance routines in the style of the North Korean Mass Games for the customers.[8] Staff from North Korea typically work on three-year contracts, and are often highly trained graduates of arts colleges.[4]
Operation
According to Swedish journalist Bertil Lintner, the restaurants are one of several overseas business ventures of Room 39, a North Korean government organization dedicated to acquiring and laundering foreign currency for the North Korean leadership.[8]
North Korean defectors have reported that the restaurants are run by local middlemen, who are required to send money every year to the North Korean government.[8][17] The North Korean staff, who live on the restaurant premises,[4] are said to be thoroughly screened for political loyalty and to be closely watched by on-site North Korean security agents.[8] In the 2000s, according to Daily NK, several attempted escapes by waitresses in China led to the closure of several restaurants and the repatriation of the staff.[18]
See also
- Okryugwan, a restaurant in Pyongyang founded in 1960.
References
- Sang-Hun Choe. North Korea Threatens South Korea over 13 Defectors The New York Times, 13 April 2016, retrieved 13 April 2016^
- Adam Taylor. The weird world of North Korea's restaurants abroad The Washington Post, April 8, 2016^
- DPRK Restaurant in Amsterdam Reopened Under New Ownership